I Choose You Every Time
by JMolover13
Summary: Emma struggles to come to terms with Ruby's wolf after the curse breaks. So, Emma spends time with Regina and Ruby thinks she's going to lose her. RED SWAN END GAME with hints of swan queen. Don't like my use of filters? Visit my AN on the inside. Don't like Red Swan? Don't Read.


**AN: This one concerns my message in the summary. THIS IS A RED SWAN FIC! I don't know how to make that more explicit! If you don't like it, don't read it! If you think I've used the filters wrong, sorry, not sorry. I use the two extra filters when I can. I use them as I see fit. I use them for major players. Regina is a major player in this fic. She is so much a major player she *spoiler alert* is suspected of having an affair with Emma... If you don't want Ruby as a character option while you're scrolling for a story, use the 'WITHOUT' filters and select her name. Man in the sky! What's that? There's no Ruby when I'm scrolling down after I used this option? THAT IS AMAZING! (Yes, I am being utterly sarcastic because I am utterly annoyed with two people too scared to sign in to their damn accounts to PM me (like I'm actually going to be able to do anything about it?) about my filter use... Really? My filter use. That's what you're going to review me about? Not the story? Get off your high horse and click a couple more buttons as instructed above.) Sorry if I sound bitchy (no I'm not).**

**Anonymous asked you: Can you do an a long Red swan where Emma freaks out after the curse is broken and struggles to come to terms with the "new ruby" & her curse and with seeing MM/snow & david/charming as her parents? Full of angst and feels but with resolution**

**AN2: Okay Anon, I'm not quite sure what you mean by long (because all of my fics are pretty long one-shot or chapter fic…), but I hope you enjoy what I wrote, though it is a one-shot and if you were wanting a chapter fic, then… whoopsie on my part and I hope you enjoy this long one-shot anyways! I tried with angst and feels, but I'm not sure how well I pulled it off…**

**P.S. I don't know if anyone else has in fact used it, but I think I was actually clever and came up with a new nickname for Snow/Mary Margaret: Mommy Margaret. I made myself laugh for five minutes… I'm sure I didn't come up with it, but if I did, or whoever did, I have one word: WINNING!**

It had been a month. The curse broke. Regina was holed up in the mansion. Emma brought the woman food and Henry every so often. But Henry was still having a hard time with his anger toward his mother for lying to him for so long. He'd often storm out.

She didn't have anyone to talk to though. She couldn't talk to her girlfriend—she was the final straw. She couldn't talk to Mary Margaret—Oh! Oh, excuse her, HER MOM! SNOW FREAKING WHITE! No. Because _that_ would just give her an extreme case of word vomit and she wasn't ready to let her mother know just how weirded out she was with everything.

It was the morning after the first full moon. She'd watched Ruby—Oh! Oh, excuse her, RED FREAKING RIDING HOOD/THE BIG BAD WOLF!—change in the jail cell she'd insisted she be put into. She watched rage take over the animal Ruby's eyes and she'd tried to talk to her. David—Oh! Oh, excuse her, HER FATHER! PRINCE FREAKING CHARMING!—and Mommy Margaret and Granny were there. That was good. She wasn't able to handle the whole transformation thing with them; she sure as hell wouldn't be able to handle it alone.

That was why on this first morning after the full moon, she ignored her girlfriend asking if she was okay and went down the street to the bakery and got a few pastries to go. She didn't realize where she was going until she approached the 108 that seemed to glare back at her.

"Sheriff…?"

"Yeah… I uh… I need to talk to someone and I can't talk to anyone else because it's about everyone and this is your damn fault so you just need to let me in, sit down, shut up and listen." She ranted and pushed passed the brunette. Had she been paying attention, she would have seen her girlfriend across the street tracking her, making sure she was all right.

In her huff she didn't feel those electric blue eyes on her or the pain that came with the stare as she made her way into the mansion. She only turned and gave Regina the paper bag, "Oh and I brought breakfast."

Regina shut the door and crossed her arms, "And just what is our fair sheriff so eager to talk to me about?"

"Everything." Emma sighed as she sat on the couch.

"Everything?"

"Yes. Everything. Everything from the enchanted forest to now. I need to talk, I need explanations, I need ways of getting over it all, and I need them now."

Regina nodded and gestured to the couch while she sat in her chair, "Then let's get started."

~0~0~0~0~0~

"What do you want to know first?" Regina asked as she watched the blonde pace before her.

"I don't know."

"It's been two hours and I've told you nothing. I've done nothing but watch you walk around and eat powdered pastries…"

"I know."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to know my version of your parents story? I assure you it's the same as theirs only with cynicism and bitterness…" Regina joked, hoping to lighten the thick tension in the room.

All Emma did was stop pacing and stare for a good twenty seconds before, "Nah, no… I don't want to know that. Not right now."

"Well… You have to give me something if you want to me explain…"

This made the blonde stop again and stare at her for almost a full minute, "First thing I want to know… Why are you doing this for me?"

Regina rolled her eyes, "It should be obvious…"

"It's not." Emma's hands on her hips spoke volumes of how irritated, angry, confused, and completely on edge she was.

Regina finally looked to the blonde's eyes, "You bring him to me. You're fair to me." She bit her lip to keep her tears at bay, "You deserve something for what you've done and continue to do for me."

Another long stare. This was really getting uncomfortable for Regina.

Emma nodded, "Okay…" She continued nodding as she looked around. She turned and resumed her pace, but she slowed to a stop and leaned against the far wall away from the former mayor, "Werewolves."

"Werewolves." Regina nodded. She stood and walked to the shelving unit that lined the wall of the living room.

Emma watched her, "Are you kidding me? You kept books from wherever the hell in here and you still denied that you were the evil queen?" She asked as she watched the brunette select a leather bound book from the top shelf.

Regina glared at her, "I've rearranged since the curse broke." Her tone was dry and she was clearly already annoyed, "I haven't had anything to do since then."

Emma looked down, "Right." She paused as she took a breath, "Sorry. I'm just…." She didn't know what the crap she was.

"I understand."

"You understand? You understand… You understand that I just watched my girlfriend turn into a freaking dog and gnaw at the bars in the jail angrily all freaking night while I was helpless to help? You understand? You understand that my God damn parents are fricken fairytale characters? You understand that they don't exist just like magic doesn't exist just like _werewolves_ don't exist just like none of this is possible? You understand? You understand that I grew up on the street and I could have grown up a prissy bitch princess in a castle? You understand? You understand that?"

Regina looked Emma in the eyes, "Of course I don't understand that. Just like you'll never understand the torture of watching your mother rip your true love's heart out and crush it to dust three feet from where she threw you with her magic across the stable." The smile Regina gave was utterly fake. "So, werewolves. Shall we?"

"Please." The blonde finally plopped down on the couch and listened to what the former mayor could tell her.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma learned a lot. She learned that Ruby wasn't allergic to chocolate but that it was poisonous to her in vast consumption. She learned that Ruby still had her senses during the curse—and that was probably the reason she heard David in the woods and knew just where to find the heart.

She learned that werewolves don't know they're werewolves unless they grow up in their pack. She learned that there is a period of time after the change happens that each werewolf has to tap into their wolf side and take it over before the wolf takes them over.

She learned that now that the curse was broken, even in human form Ruby could run like freaking Dash Incredible if she wanted or needed, that her senses and abilities went far beyond any human or wolf.

She learned that werewolves had certain intense, gut-wrenching feelings beyond anything any human or wolf could imagine; that when Werewolves pick a mate, they mate for life… She also learned that Ruby ate her boyfriend in the other world, so she didn't know what the hell to think.

That was what plagued her as she roamed the empty streets of Broken-Curse-Fairytale-Creatures-Really-Do-Exist, Maine in the early morning hours. She'd stayed at Regina's all day and all night (until 4 in the morning) before she decided she'd had enough.

So, here she was, two hours later. She made it to the remnants of the old castle. She looked at the moon hitting the ocean though she could tell dawn was approaching. The sky wasn't quite as dark as when she left the former mayor's.

The distinct sound of growling came from behind her and she stiffened. Slowly she turned around to see a large wolf pinning her to her spot with its eyes. She didn't know what to do.

"Rubes?" She tried.

This only made the wolf growl louder, bark and the fur rise on its back.

Emma could tell that Ruby was about to attack. Her lip quivered and she swallowed the lump in her throat, "Ruby… please…"

Ruby charged and leapt in the air. Emma reached for her gun, thinking of her own protection in that moment, but alas! She didn't have it with her. She'd left it at the station. So, before she knew it, she was pinned to the ground by large paws and was staring into the eyes of a hungry wolf.

Emma reached up, in what she hoped was a calming gesture, as well as an attempt to protect herself. She didn't touch Ruby, only tried to cover her face, "Ruby! Please!"

Ruby clawed at Emma's hands and pawed at her chest. Emma squirmed beneath the wolf, which only made Ruby aggravated. Even so, Emma had managed to get into the fetal position. Ruby let out a howl before diving forward to bite and snap at her prey.

Just as Emma felt the wolf's jaw clamp on her shoulder, the hot breath was immediately gone. First she inspected her shoulder only to find some drool, no cuts or teeth marks. Then, she looked up to find Ruby turning back into Ruby.

The blonde quickly got up and ran. Unlucky for her, in her hastening, she didn't see a divot in the sand. She bit it hard. Sand in her mouth, on her face, in her hair, and in the cuts her hands and chest acquired. She turned as she heard Ruby groan before…

"Emma?!" The panic in the brunette's voice could have been heard a mile away. Ruby turned around frantically, in obvious hope to find the blonde. After spotting her a few feet away she seemingly flashed forward, "Oh, Emma. Are you alright?"

Emma shuffled away from the woman as quickly as she possibly could, "No! Please! Don't!" She picked herself up and started to run again.

"Emma please! You're hurt!" Ruby ran after her, "What happened?"

Emma turned quickly, rage flowing through her, "What happened?! Are you freaking kidding me?! What happened? YOU happened! YOU attacked me!"

Ruby was taken aback, "No…" She shook her head, "No, I… I wouldn't… I love you… I wouldn't hurt you…"

"Guess you were wrong!" The blonde felt the hot tears on her cheeks and wiped them away. She looked at the brunette once more before she turned.

"No! Emma! Come on!"

Ruby had run behind her. She grabbed the blonde's shoulders and shook, "Emma, wake up!"

"What?"

Suddenly Ruby's voice turned to that of the former mayor's, "Wake up."

Emma sat up heaving. She looked around the mayor's living room. She looked down at the quilt she'd been covered with and up to Regina, "What the hell happened?"

Regina gave the blonde a questioning look, "We discussed werewolves all day and then you fell asleep. You hadn't slept in over 2 days what with Ruby confirming she was a werewolf then the first full moon…"

"I've been here?"

"Yes?"

"All night I've been here..?"

"Yes."

"I didn't go to the beach and Ruby didn't…?" Emma began looking at her hands for any claw marks.

"No, Sheriff, you fell asleep at nine and have been on this couch all night long."

The blonde began rubbing her stiff neck, "Yeah, thanks for that by the way…"

"I put you up for the night and didn't even think about harming you, that's way more than what should be required of the evil queen."

Emma gave the witch a look, "Can you use magic yet?"

Regina looked to the side and shook her head, "I fear the only way I'll ever be able to is if I use my mother's book…" At the reaction she got she put a hand up, "I've promised Henry I will be a better person. I gave him the book just after the curse. Only he knows where it is."

Emma nodded and stood, "Thanks for letting me sleep here…" She walked to the door, "I'm going to go home, take a shower, refresh… Can we continue this evening?"

"Only if you bring one of Granny's bacon cheeseburgers with fries and a mint chocolate chip shake."

Emma stopped everything and stared at the woman before her, "Are you… are you serious?"

Regina smirked, "Are you the only woman allowed to eat like that?"

"No! It's just…. You..you don't.. Eat like that…"

Regina looked around, "I have no magic, no love. I rarely have visitors that mean me no harm. I rarely see my son. I don't have a lot going for me right now. Let me indulge in food to take away the pain?"

Emma gave her a look, "I'll be visiting a lot until I'm satisfied I know everything I need to know. And then I might still come around. And I'll for sure bring Henry. Expect more frequent visitors that mean you no harm…" She grinned, "But I will bring your dinner as you requested. Say… 7 o'clock?"

Regina nodded and opened the door for the blonde.

Emma stepped out, but turned and took Regina's forearm, "I'll bring him by more often…" She promised before she turned back around.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma walked into the apartment. She had all of thirty seconds before Mommy Margaret was in her room with her.

"Emma?"

"Yes Mary Margaret?" The blonde gathered fresh clothes from her hamper, sniffing her shirt to make sure they were indeed washed.

"What were you doing at Regina's?"

Emma stopped everything she was doing. She dropped the clothes in her arms on the bed and turned to the other woman, "What?"

"Why were you at Regina's? You were there all day and night? Emma what's going on?" The pixie cut women went to console her.

"Nothing's going on…" She knit her brows and pushed from the other woman… Okay, fine!—from her mother, and gave her an accusing look, "How do you even know where I was? Are you having me followed or something?"

"Emma dear, you dashed out of the station so fast, no one knew what you were thinking or where you were going…" Snow reached for her daughter, "We're concerned and we just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm fine." Emma said as she stopped the woman from touching her. "Peachy even."

"Emma…"

"Look, I just want to take a long, hot shower, alright?"

After a staring contest, Snow finally conceded, "Alright…" She moved to the door, "But I want to talk to you before the day is over."

Emma waited until the door was shut before she mumbled, "Fat chance."

She gathered her things and went to the bathroom.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma had been locked in her room until 6:30. She stalked out putting her jacket on and headed for the door.

She stopped as she saw Henry on the couch, and kissed his hair. "I'll see you tonight, or tomorrow, okay?"

Henry looked confused at his mother but only nodded as he watched her walk on.

Snow had been waiting for a moment to announce her presence, but Emma was at the door already, "Emma! We still need to talk—!"

Emma slammed the front door behind her closed and went to the diner. She took a breath before she went in.

"Hey, Emma!" One of the waitresses said as she walked to the diner, "Ruby's in the back. I'll go get her."

"No!" Emma put her hand out. She was too late to realize that she just yelled at a waitress to _not_ go get her girlfriend. She bit her lip, "I mean, I'm uh… I need to be somewhere. Can I just order?"

The waitress knit her brows and nodded, "What do you want?"

"2 bacon cheeseburgers with sides of fries and 2 mint chocolate chip shakes." She waited for the girl to give the order to the kitchen before she gave her a few bills, "Keep it." She said when she noticed the waitress getting her change.

"Thanks!" She scooted off to her other tables as Emma waited.

The blonde eyed the door to the back and then the window to the kitchen. Her glances moved back and forth between the two. She wasn't sure she could stand to talk to Ruby just yet. She couldn't understand her dream and she was, in all honesty, FREAKING SCARED that that dream might really happen! She almost sprinted around the counter when she saw Bud, the cook place her burgers and fries in to-go boxes on the counter. She grabbed a bag—something she'd been allowed to do since she and Ruby started dating—and put the boxes in there just as Bud placed the shakes on the counter.

"Thanks Bud." She said frantically as she glanced in and saw Ruby walk from the supply room, "Gotta go." She ran from the building just as Ruby walked to the main part of the diner.

The hurt look that crossed Ruby's face did not go unnoticed by the customers or the other waitress.

"Is everything okay?"

Ruby shook her head, "I don't think so."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Ruby went to the apartment first. She needed a friend, and her girlfriend's mother was her best friend in both the enchanted forest and Storybrooke.

"Ruby? What's wrong?" Snow opened the door and let her friend in.

Ruby shook her head, "I don't know… Has Emma talked to you?"

"No." The queen shook her head, "She came home this morning, took a shower and locked herself in her room all day. Then… she left."

Ruby plopped on the barstool, "This is too much for her."

"Now, now. She'll come around."

"What if she doesn't?" Ruby looked into Snow's eyes, "What if she can't handle it and breaks up with me and never wants to see me again?"

"Emma isn't going to do that."

"How can you be so sure?"

Henry, who had been eavesdropping from his makeshift room, walked into the kitchen and interrupted their hushed conversation, "Because she's a swan and you're a wolf. You both mate for life. You've both had past loves, but you didn't choose them. You chose each other." He paused a moment before he looked to Snow, "Can I have some hot cocoa Gram?"

Snow smiled at her grandson, "Of course, Henry." She started moving around, preparing the beverage. She looked over to her friend, "He has a point."

Ruby stayed quiet until Henry was given his cocoa and walked away. She looked to Snow and swallowed hard, "What if she chooses another swan? What if she chooses a black swan?"

Snow looked down, "You heard she's been spending time with Regina."

"I saw her walk into the mansion yesterday. I followed her. And I saw her leave this morning… something happened. There was this touch… this sentimental, knowing, _loving_ touch… I think she's found another swan… and I'm just a lone wolf."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma had gone to Regina's everyday for the next month and three weeks. She avoided Ruby and her parents at all costs and swore her son to secrecy every time he came with her to Regina's. She couldn't let him tell her parents that she was too freaked out by the whole thing still, so swearing him to secrecy was all she could do.

She walked out of her bathroom from taking a shower to see none other than her mother sitting at the desk in her room. She jumped back startled, "Jesus H. Christ hanging on the cross!" Her hand clutched at her towel as she leaned against the doorframe for support. She leaned into the bathroom, gathering herself before she stood straight and looked at the woman, "Can I help you?"

Snow looked up from the love letters that spread over the desk, "You haven't read any of these… You hadn't even opened them…"

Emma looked to the desk to find that her mother had in fact opened the three letters that Ruby sent her throughout the last couple weeks. "I was saving them for a rainy day…" She stared at the envelopes stacked neatly to the side, "Now, I don't have to."

"Emma! To throw your words back in your face, it's raining like a bitch! Don't you see that?"

The blonde looked at the desk, at the floor, at the walls, the ceiling—anywhere but at her mother's face. She crossed her arms and clenched up, "Can you get out so I can change?"

Snow didn't move. She picked up one of the letters, "Dear Emma…" She started reading.

Emma backed up a few steps, her eyes wide with shock that Snow was reading the letter aloud, "Don't."

"I don't know what you're going through, but I know what I'm going through. It's hard for me to grasp, so I can only imagine what it must be like for you."

"Stop. Mary Margaret. I'm serious." Emma rounded her bed and stood a few feet from the other woman.

"I'm having to relearn everything I taught myself in the Enchanted Forest. It's harder here than it ever was there. The first full moon has already come and gone and I was never able to tap into my wolf."

"Mary Margaret! I mean it!"

"My wolf is my curse. It's always going to be a part of me." Snow took a shaky breath before reading the next sentence, "One thing I don't know if you know about wolves is we are a special breed. We're monogamous. But the main, most important thing is we mate for life. Henry told me that I was a wolf and you were a swan and both mate for life, and even though we both had other lovers we chose each other…"

"Please don't read anymore." Emma backed up to her bed and curled up on her bed in the fetal position. She didn't look at her mother, instead she chose the picture that Ruby put on her nightstand of the two of them.

Ruby set her camera on a timer while they were playing in the park like any young couple in love. Ruby had run and jumped on her, wrapping her legs around her hips; she had her arms wrapped around Ruby's ass, holding her up. They'd kissed twice before Ruby pulled from her with a grin and pointed to the camera. Ruby turned and grinned wide, but Emma just leaned up and kissed the brunette's jawline.

Emma reached for the picture, "Please mom…" her voice was soft, caught behind the lump in her throat.

Snow didn't allow herself time to be floored as she heard the name come from Emma's lips. She pushed through, "She asked me to make sure that you got them and read them." The raven haired woman said softly. She cleared her throat to continue where she left off, "You chose me. But I choose you. I choose you everyday. You won't talk to me. You won't let me in. Hell, you won't let me 20 feet near you. There's so much going on for you and you won't let me try to help. You won't give me anything to go on. You won't choose me. You don't choose me." Snow covered her mouth a moment as she read over the last line, "Please Emma. Please have the common decency to tell me that you don't choose me anymore. That you've found your black swan and I am a lone wolf. That's what everyone is saying. That I'm in love with a woman who's in love with another woman. And that would be fine. It would make a lot of sense actually… But the thing is, I'm still a wolf that's chosen you for life."

Snow waited a moment. She took in Emma's face, "That was a month ago…" She stood and gave Emma the other two letters, telling her which was which as she did, "This one was two weeks ago. This one she sent today."

Emma sat up, after she heard the door shut. She looked at the letters that her mother gave her, but she wanted to read them in private. She never had privacy anywhere. Even at Regina's, Regina was always milling around when she fell asleep.

She blew her hair dry, curled it, just to stall the inevitable then bundled up. She sighed as she saw her parents curled on the couch and kid asleep on the floor as the credits to TRON rolled.

She took her parents in and watched as her father moved slowly reaching for the remote and turning the TV off, keeping his eyes on her like he was preparing for any sudden attack that may come. She looked at her mother then at her father again before she looked down, "I've been having a really hard time accepting everything. Everything I grew up to believe is false. Everything I've ever experienced is twisted in some way to fit my inevitable role as savior. I don't like it, I don't want it, but it's my fate and I have to deal." She took a big breath, "I've been over at Regina's because she's been helping me understand everything. She's been telling me the stories of everyone—both her version and the other side's version. She's been… enlightening me so to speak. I'd been hanging on by a damn thread and when I saw Ruby change into and back from a wolf… It broke and I started falling. I needed to find footing. That's why I've been dismissive and harsh lately."

The blonde threw on her knit hat that Ruby gave her and walked out of the apartment. She walked around for most of the evening and made her way to the station to catch up on much needed paperwork while she thought about what she was going to say to Ruby the next time she saw her.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma made her way with a flashlight and blanket borrowed from the cruiser to the old remnants of Henry's castle in the early morning hours. She'd tried to sleep on one of the cots, but wasn't able to do anything but think about Ruby and what a straight up, narcissistic bitch she'd been. She'd settled down on the cold ground and pulled her letters from the brunette out.

The distinct sound of growling came from behind her and she stiffened. Slowly she turned around to see a large wolf pinning her to her spot with its eyes. She didn't know what to do. She stood up and turned completely to the wolf carefully.

"Rubes?" She tried as she slowly raised her hands.

This only made the wolf growl louder, bark and the fur rise on her back.

Emma, with a major case of déjà vu, could tell that Ruby was about to attack. Her lip quivered and she swallowed the lump in her throat, "Ruby… please…" she whispered out.

Ruby charged and leapt in the air. Emma put her hands up in defense, knowing she didn't have her gun it was the only thing she could think to do. But, she was pinned to the ground by large paws and was staring into the eyes of a hungry wolf.

Emma kept her arms up. She slowly tried to extend her hands as far as they could reach and pet Ruby's head, in what she hoped was a calming gesture, "Ruby! Please!"

Ruby snapped at Emma's hands and pawed at her chest. Emma squirmed beneath the wolf, which only made Ruby aggravated. Even so, Emma had managed to get into the fetal position. Ruby let out a howl to the moon.

Emma rolled on her back slightly to look as Ruby howled up. If she wasn't in the very vulnerable position she was in, she would mention how beautiful it actually was—or maybe she would mention it because of the vulnerable position she was in. She'd made the mistake of relaxing a bit, and Ruby looked down into her eyes.

"Ruby." She said firmly, "It's Emma. I know you know me."

Ruby's growling started over. She was showing Emma her teeth and snapping at the air.

Emma watched Ruby much like her father had watched her earlier that evening, "Ruby look at me. Listen to me." The wolf's eyes zeroed in on her, "Ruby, I love you. You have to come out and fight the wolf. You have to control it for me." She slowly got on her knees, her hand still out, "Honey, I'm right here. Fight it." She saw the rage in the wolf's eyes strengthen. Her hand almost got it when Ruby snapped at her, but just after Ruby backed down a few feet and shook her head harshly from side to side. She rubbed her paw down her snout as if trying to hide from Emma, "Baby, it's okay. Come here. I'm right here. Ruby," She paused and stared into the blue eyes she'd grown to love, but she watched them cloud over to goldenrod again, "I am right here. I choose you, Honey. I have no black swan that I'm in love with… I have a wolf that I am in love with. I choose my wolf. I choose you every time. So choose me. Love me. I'll love you and choose you too. Please, Ruby."

Ruby invaded the blonde's space again and began sniffing all over her. Emma's hand was still out, though it was useless—it wasn't protecting her from her big bad wolf of a girlfriend. She'd been frozen ever since her big bad wolf of a girlfriend trotted back over to her. Ruby sniffed down her arm to the palm of her hand and licked it before nuzzling the hand in askance for a scratch behind her ears.

The blonde had no choice but to do what the wolf seemed to want. She lifted her other hand and boldly took the wolf's face in her hands, "Baby?" She smiled as she saw those clear ice blue eyes. The wolf pushed forward and licked Emma's chin. "You did it." Emma's words were calming as she let the wolf come fully into her hold and hug her, "You did it, Honey." Emma kissed the dark fur of Ruby's neck.

Emma sat back on her blanket and let Ruby lay between her legs, "I'm going to read the other two letters before the sun rises, alright? Then we're going to talk, and I'm going to apologize for everything. Then… Then we take it a day at a time and we choose each other every single day we have. Okay?" Emma asked. Ruby nuzzled into Emma's stomach and Emma smiled, "Okay."

~0~0~0~0~0~

It had been two years. Regina wasn't holed up in her mansion anymore. Emma didn't have to make trips to bring her food anymore and Henry went to see his mother freely.

Emma was able to talk to everyone now. Though there were three women she could bare her soul to: Her mother, her brand new wife and her supposed enemy turned BFFL!—Like for reals they were total BFFLs that LOL'd and emoticon'd in texts and hung out all the time—Unless Emma was with her lover or her mother.

She'd learned to give them 33% of her time each, as well as trying to fit in her daddy and her child. It was hard to juggle, but Emma liked actually having to juggle the good in her life over the shit.

Snow and Charming were at the same stage in life as their daughter. They were trying to get their shit together and spend time with everyone they used to. They'd moved into their own house about nine months after Emma and Ruby reconciled. They'd added another princess to the family. Princess Anna—the parents thought they were so clever and cute with the Emma to Anna thing. Emma never said a lot on the name subject. She just thanked her lucky stars that if they did have to go back to the Enchanted Forest that she would never be a queen; that would be all Anna.

As it turns out, Storybrooke is one of the greatest places for magic, which gave Charming less and less want to go back to the Forest and Snow more hope for staying put.

Emma found that out after she naturally developed powers of her own. And, after Regina honed her own natural skills—not through black magic, she and Emma spent their time delving into magic books that Regina had never read in the other land. They came across a book Regina never knew existed. It was small and looked like a handbook. It had a passage on werewolves abilities over lands and realms.

Without Emma's knowledge, Regina offered it to Ruby one day as a bribe to spend time with her friend, and Ruby took her up on it. She sent Emma off with a pat on her head and a slap to her ass and a 'Have fun now!'

In the book, Ruby found that she could hone her wolf any time she damn well pleased. She could do it in the middle of the day. She'd learned that the full moon wasn't really important after she trained herself to shape shift at her will. Of course, there was always a strong desire during the former 'wolf's week', but she didn't _have_ to shift.

It was the best gift imaginable.

Especially now.

She would hate having to shape shift whilst pregnant.

Emma came into their bedroom and smiled at her wife as she rubbed cocoa butter on her swollen belly, "Hey baby."

Ruby looked up and gave her a tired smile, "Hi Honey." She reached out for Emma, who wasted no time shuffling across the room and onto the bed to kiss her wife, "How's Regina and Henry? Did he get settled in okay?"

"They're fine. You know how much they both love this new 'Henry spends the entire summer and weekends with adoptive mommy' thing. He was settled before he got out of the car." Emma kissed Ruby's cheek before she let her hand begin to roam over the bare cocoa buttered belly, "How's our little wolf pack?" She asked as she moved her head down to Ruby's tummy, "Did you three miss mommy? Hmm?" She kissed Ruby's skin where her lips landed until she got to the other side. She felt all three babies begin to kick and looked up at her wife's closed eyes.

"Yes I do feel that." Ruby sighed as she gave the blonde a one-eyed glare before taking in a deep calming breath.

"I'm sorry. I missed everyone today." Emma moved back up to her wife, "But it was my last Emma and Regina and Henry day…"

Ruby placed a hand on her cheek, "I know, Baby." She grinned reluctantly and kissed her, "You woke them up. They've been up playing with each other _all day long_!" She whined, pulling from the kiss.

Emma's eyes softened as she looked over her wife's form. She placed a hand to her stomach and hummed "Stay Awake," a song Mary Poppins taught her—both the Julie Andrews one and the real one—who looked exactly like Julie Andrews when she played the amazing nanny.

Ruby looked down at her stomach and back to her wife a few times, "They're asleep. How did you do that?"

Emma shrugged, "Regina's as excited that we've reproduced as Henry, Granny and my parents. She'd looked up a few spells and enchantments and helpful tips for magic parents and werewolf babies." She waggled her brows and leaned in to kiss her wife again. "Aren't you happy I'm friends with the evil queen?"

"So damn happy." Ruby wrapped her arms around Emma's neck.

"But you're still possessive and jealous and think that something did happen between me and her when I was freakin' out a couple years ago." Emma gave her wife a look.

"Yes." Ruby agreed simply, "But I'm so over it now if she's going to keep helping like this with the triplets."

Emma grinned and kissed the brunette again, "I choose you every time anyways."

"I choose you too."

**AN: I hope you enjoyed. Please R&R!**


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